Travel 101: My Thoughts on Airbnb

Hello! We had a short trip to Melbourne recently and it was super awesome! We drove up to Great Ocean Road to check out the scenery and spent another 4 days in Melbourne City. Can’t wait to visit Australia again! smile

We were searching for accommodation when I found out about Airbnb from BFF. I decided to give it a shot and try the unique experience of home staying. Eventually, we cancelled the last two nights due to privacy reasons.

Airbnb is not a hotel

Obviously. The sharing concept has to be properly understood to avoid possible misunderstandings. We regretted not doing proper research or understand the entire concept before making a booking. Lesson learnt.

Introduce yourselves

Create a profile and introduce yourselves to the owners. Likewise, they will have an introduction of themselves and a description of the apartment on their profile. Read through to understand the owner better.

Read the reviews

As above. Reading the reviews by other travelers also helps as it gives you an idea on what to expect there. Look out for positive reviews especially.

Check the house rules before booking

I’ve heard about a horror story from a friend where the owner chased her out of the apartment as she went back late and accidentally woke him up from his sleep. Isn’t that scary? Check the house rules with the owner and ask questions before confirming the accommodation. This will prevent potential conflicts.

Our apartment turns our exactly like the description. The owners were extremely friendly and helpful. However, we felt that there wasn’t any privacy and ended up booking a hotel closer to the city area. The hotel room was about an additional SGD45 per night. Pretty affordable considering the cab fare we managed to save. If we were to book through Airbnb again, we will probably rent the entire house to ourselves.